Dayton to lay out budget plan

At 11, Gov. Mark Dayton will hold a news conference to announce the details of his budget proposal (Department of Revenue, Skjegstad Room, 600 North Robert Street, St. Paul.)

In the evening, Dayton, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith and members of the cabinet will attend meetings of the House and Senate GOP caucuses, and the Senate DFL caucus.

Here’s what we know so far, from the Strib’s Ricardo Lopez. Between the child care tax credit, money promised for human services and education, $30 million for the U of M Med School, it adds up to $660 million of the estimated $1 billion surplus.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s $11 billion transportation proposal to fix the state’s most decrepit roads and bridges over the next decade and improve transit would also sock Minnesotans with significantly higher gas taxes at the pump and some with a higher sales tax.

In a far-reaching plan, Dayton on Monday proposed a 6.5 percent gross receipts tax on gasoline at the wholesale level, meaning drivers would pay an extra 16 cents a gallon at current prices. But as gas prices rise, so would the wholesale tax. At $4 per gallon, the wholesale tax would be 22 cents. That would be on top of the existing state gas tax of 28.5 cents per gallon.

To fund mass transit improvements, the governor is asking for a half-cent increase in the sales tax for the seven-county metro area....

The money raised would pay to upgrade 2,200 miles of state roadways, and repair or replace 330 aging bridges. Transit projects funded by the sales tax would include the controversial Southwest light-rail line linking Minneapolis to Eden Prairie. (A Senate DFL plan proposes a ¾-cent increase in the tax, a key financing tool for bus and light rail.) In addition, the state’s general fund would provide $120 million for transit projects in greater Minnesota.

Republicans say no way.

One more time

A new hire in the department of finger wagging, Pioneer Press reporter David Montgomery, on Twitter:

And, my story setting the table on environmental issues this session, with the Legislature moving right and environmentalists playing defense:

That’s the new political dynamic that will play out this session as agribusiness, mining and other industries and their legislative allies try to press their new advantage while environmental activists play defense.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."